PSC Strategic Planning Process

• Overview
• Internal Planning
• External Partnerships: The Listening Project
• Drafting the Plan and Integrating Public Review
• Final Version: Creating the Living Document
• Implementation and Monitoring

Overview

As the NOAA Pacific Services Center (PSC) begins our first strategic planning effort, we are guided by the values of Innovation, Excellence, Leadership, and Collaboration:

• Innovation in the tools we produce, the processes we rely on, and the partnerships we build;
• Excellence in the plan we establish and the resulting activities that naturally lead from the plan;
• Leadership so that the initiatives we establish within PSC can be used as a model locally, nationally, and globally; and
• Collaboration with partners and constituents.

Our strategic plan will build from these values as we collectively explore how best to lay the foundation for PSC in the support of resilient coastal communities for today and tomorrow. Below we outline our basic strategy to develop the strategic plan. If at any point you have questions or would like more information, please contact us at psc@noaa.gov.

Internal Planning

Strategic planning is both an external and an internal process. Externally, we will collaboratively explore the vision of coastal communities and PSC with our partners and constituents. Internally, we will assess our strengths, areas for growth, and the plan for maintaining momentum throughout the planning process. Within our office, we have already laid the groundwork for many of the planning issues to come. Concrete issues such as financial management, reporting, and technological support have already been addressed. We have also discussed our hopes, visions, and goals for the future of PSC. The strategic planning process allows us to explore our aspirations for PSC's future initiatives. As we listen to the feedback of our partners, we will also be exploring our internal goals for coastal services within the Pacific islands.

External Partnerships: The Listening Project

Aligning ourselves with our federal, state, community, academic, and other coastal partners is of key importance to the success of the PSC. This process is reflected in the Hawaiian phrase: Nana ka maka; ho‘olohe ka pepeiao; pa‘a ka waha: "Observe with the eyes; listen with the ears; shut the mouth." ...Thus one learns.

The Listening Project is one where our clients and partners will come together to share their visions and ideas about how we can together improve the PSC. The strategic planning process gives us the opportunity to continue listening to our partners about the state of the Pacific island coasts, current organizational strengths, and opportunities for today and the future. We invite your comments on the strategic planning materials we have posted. Please send your input to psc@noaa.gov.

As we develop our plan, we will rely on deliberations with our steering committee, working groups, and other participants to shape our current and future activities.

Drafting the Plan and Integrating Public Review

The plan itself will be a short guide detailing current Pacific island coastal initiatives and the role that PSC will play in supporting coastal health and vitality. The draft is a first run, integrating feedback, from both ourselves and our community, into a draft form. We will then take this out to the community and ask, did we get it right? Where do we need to adjust, add, or remove in order to truly reflect our collective vision?

Final Version: Creating the Living Document

PSC's strategic plan is not meant to be a static, unchanging document. The strategic plan is meant to act as an open door allowing for continued dialogue with our partners and constituents. We hope to reshape and modify the plan as we continue to work with the changing coastal environment, with new opportunities for growth, and increased innovation and response to the needs of our constituents.

Implementation and Monitoring

Although the plan is a concrete product, our true results will present themselves as we continue to mold and shape our strategic initiatives and long-term vision. How we move forward with actions, products, and directives will demonstrate how we have integrated the collective vision of our partners, stakeholders, and staff. We plan to monitor how we are achieving our goals, milestones, and objectives and share this information with those who helped us shape the plan and with new partners.